Latin American and Caribbean Library

The Latin American and Caribbean Library is on the third floor of the main UIUC library in room 324. We are nearest to the north (Wright Street) entrance stairs and elevator. While the Latin American and Caribbean Library itself does not house a circulating collection, our knowledgeable staff is available to help locate relevant materials, answer reference questions, and assist you in developing effective searching strategies. We are open Monday-Friday 8:30-5 to assist you in person or by phone, and we also answer email reference questions at ngonzale@uiuc.edu.

Collection

The Latin American and Caribbean Library Collection includes materials about the entire Latin American and Caribbean region and also about Hispanic American communities in the United States. Collection development concentrates on materials largely in the social sciences and humanities, covering such disciplines as history, anthropology, political science, sociology, literature, linguistics and economics. The LACL also has a special interest in collecting publications in Creole and indigenous languages, e.g. Quechua.

The Latin American and Caribbean Library collection includes:

More than 400,000 monograph titles;
Newspapers and magazines from over 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries;
A strong collection of journals in the humanities and social sciences, as well as publications of professional associations, government agencies, central banks, and non-governmental organizations;
Access to HAPI Online (Hispanic American Periodicals Index), the Handbook of Latin American Studies, and other online databases;
An extensive collection of videos available at the Media Center in the Undergraduate Library;
over 32,000 maps of Latin America (housed in the Map and Geography Library);
comprehensive holdings of Brazilian and Andean materials;
Extensive holdings by and about Gabriel García Márquez;
Publications from the Archivo General de la Nación de México; and
A comprehensive Latin American music collection.

Where is the Latin American and Caribbean Library Collection?

The Latin American and Caribbean Library collection is not housed in a single location, but is integrated into the University of Illinois Library general collections. The majority of the Latin American and Caribbean Library materials can be found in the Main Stacks of the main University of Illinois Library. Additional materials can also be found in the following locations:

The Latin American and Caribbean Library works in cooperation with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean
Studies at UIUC to develop a strong collection that supports teaching and research in those programs sponsored and coordinated by the Center as well as interdisciplinary courses with Latin American subject matter offered by other departments.

The LACL collection ranks among the six largest in the country and is the largest collection in the Midwest region. Because an active acquisition program has been maintained since the 1930s, it holds rare materials not available to many collections formed after that time. Through special programs supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Defense Education Act, it continues to serve needs of visiting fellows participating in special NEH- and NDEA-sponsored seminars and individual research projects.

Our Mission Statement

"To serve the University community to the best of our ability by collecting materials necessary for the

study of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Hispanic United States, making this wealth of

information available to scholars in a variety of disciplines."

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